Phases of the moon

Phases of the Moon

1. Earth’s moon orbits the earth in a little less than a month.

2. It orbits the earth in a counter clockwise direction when viewed from the North pole

3. The orbit is an elliptical pattern and therefore the distance between the Earth and moon changes

-perigee is when the moon is closest to us-Apogee is when the moon is the farthest

Phases of the Moon

The Moon orbits Earth at an average distance of 382,400 km.

The synodic lunar month is the 29.53 days, this is how long it takes the moon to go through all of its phases

During the sidereal lunar month, the Moon orbits the Earth once, this takes about 27.3 days

The phases we see result from the angle the Moon makes with the Sun as viewed from Earth..

Why are the sidereal and synodic lunar months different amounts of days?

Ask a neighbor

Phases of the Moon

Lunar phases are a result of the motion of the moon and the sunlight that is reflected from its surface.

WHAT ARE THE PHASES OF THE

MOON?

WAXING CRESCENT1ST QUARTER

WAXING GIBBOUS

FULL MOON: WHEN THE MOON IS ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE EARTH SO THAT IT REFLECTS SUNLIGHT BACK TO EARTH

WANING GIBBOUS3RD QUARTER

WANING CRESCENTNEW MOON

WHEN THE MOON IS BETWEEN THE EARTH AND THE SUN

http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml

Phases of the Moon

The Universe: The Phases of the Moon

Could you tell time by the phase of the moon?

Ask your elbow partner if you think you could? How could you?

At what time would the first quarter moon rise?

See if you can figure it out and share with someone.

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What quarter are we in if the sun is coming up and the moon is overhead?

What time is it if the full moon is directly overhead?

See if anyone close by has the same answer?

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What time would it be when the new moon would set behind the horizon?

A. 9:00 am

B. 12 noon

C. 3 pm

D. Never, there is no moon when we have a new moon

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What is a blue moon?

There are in fact two definitions for a blue moon.

1. a blue moon is the second full moon in a calendar month. For a

blue moon to occur, the first of the full moons must appear at or near

the beginning of the month so that the second will fall within the

same month (the average span between two moons is 29.5 days).2. states that the blue moon is the

third full moon in a season that has four full moons.